Essity consumes cartons at French mill

Sweden-based tissue and hygiene products maker Essity has inaugurated a production line in Hondouville, France, to make professional hygiene tissue products where the raw material consists of used food and milk packaging.

The company, which calls the discarded carton- and aseptic packaging-fed production line the world’s first of its kind, says the facility recycles 25,000 tons per year of such materials, equivalent to 60 percent of all such collected, sorted and recycled food and beverage cartons in France.

Essity says its plant in Hondouville has, since 2008, been the leader in recycling paper fiber from food and beverage packaging in France. The latest expansion, however, has increased the recycled-content tissue capacity by 40 percent.

In addition to increased recycling capacity, the process also enables the recycling of almost all the nonfiber materials in the packaging, including plastic and aluminum, according to Essity.

The tissue products made in Houndoville are marketed under its Tork brand.

In addition to its recycled-content mill in France, Essity has similar recycling initiatives in Germany, the Netherlands and a recent effort in Ecuador through which Essity is collaborating with McDonald’s and the company ReciVeci to recycle paper cups from fast food restaurants.

“A truly circular society can only be achieved if there is integrated collaboration between all members of the value chain, and our production plant in Hondouville is a role model in end-to-end circular economy,” says Donato Giorgio, president of global supply chains at Essity.

“The production facility provides cost-efficient and sustainable production while we take important steps toward a world with zero landfill," Giorgio says of the Houndoville investment.

France is Essity's second-largest market in Europe, with approximately 2,300 employees and annual sales of more than $1 billion.

Globally, Essity makes and sells hygiene and health products under brands that include Tork, Actimove, Cutimed, Delta-Cast, Demak’Up, Jobst, Leukoplast, Lotus, Nana, Okay and TENA.